Page 43 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

Her thighs were trembling, her stomach was clenched, she couldn’t catch her breath, and her ability to speak had completely deserted her. All she could do was pant and moan. She watched as his hand slid down his chest to his stomach where it stopped for a second. “Do it,” she breathed, her insides clenching at the thought. “I want to watch.”

His hand continued its journey until it reached the waistband of his shorts where it slipped under them and tugged out his dick. He wrapped his fist around it and his moan reverberated through her.

“Yes,” she hissed, rocking her hips harder. “Así. Así mismo.”

His hand sped up.

Sofi couldn’t take her eyes off it. She wanted him in her mouth, but then she’d have to stop grinding on his face and that was more important.

The muscles in his stomach clenched, his toes curled, and he let out a muffled “fuck” against her.

That was it.

Her eyes squeezed shut, her hips jerked uncontrollably, her entire body shook, and she cried his name over and over. When she couldn’t stand it anymore she slumped to the side, letting her body fall to the mattress. She opened her eyes and his hips were in her line of sight.

His hand was still wrapped around himself, covered in his own pleasure. His stomach rose and fell quickly as he tried to catch his breath. His other hand came down, holding the small towel from the pillow. He wiped himself off and then set it aside. He sat up and looked over at her. “Sofi. Bombón.” He reached out a hand and dragged it along her hip.

She sat up and turned herself around while he repositioned himself against the headboard. Sofi scooted up until she was right next to him and then laid her head on his chest.

Leo wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. He kissed her on the forehead.

Sofi didn’t say anything. She just closed her eyes and let sleep take her, so she could stop thinking about the huge mistake she’d just made.

10

Leo woke to a tongue licking his face. Unfortunately, that tongue did not belong to the woman next to him, but to the wiggly puppy on his chest. He opened his eyes and discovered that he was basically nose to nose with Dumpy—he didn’t care what Sofi said, it was a good name. He pushed the dog off his chest. “How did you even get up here?” he whispered. The bed was too tall for him to have jumped up, which meant that Sofi had to have lifted him onto the bed. Leo smiled. As much as she tried to pretend otherwise, she was such a softy.

He looked over at her curled up on her side with her hands tucked under her cheek like a little girl. She must’ve gotten hot at some point, because she’d kicked off the thick white comforter and beige knit blanket. Her long, silky brown limbs were revealed almost to excess by her dark gold satin and lace sleep shorts and button-up top combo—reminding him why he called her bombón. She was like the chocolate-covered caramels he used to steal from any box of truffles he found around the apartment growing up. She was his secret pleasure, one he didn’t feel the least bit guilty enjoying whenever he could. Even if it was just looking at her, like he was now.

On the bed Sofi yawned and turned on her back to stretch.

Distractedly, Leo watched her muscles flex and contract. It reminded him of the way she’d move during sex; her chest bowed off the bed, her toes curling, arms and head thrown back. He could watch it all day and never get bored.

A second later she was once again knocked out, her mouth open and everything. There was a depression in the blanket by her waist where Dumpy had obviously snuggled up.

The last thing he remembered after he’d come so hard he’d saw fucking stars was snuggling up to a quiet Sofi. It wasn’t totally abnormal for her to be quiet. She was frequently lost in her own thoughts. What worried him were the thoughts that had probably run through her brain after. He knew her well enough to know that she’d been overanalyzing what they’d done. She’d most likely woken up, gotten dressed, put the puppy on the bed, and then lay there freaking out until she fell back to sleep. Leo was surprised that she hadn’t woken him up and sent him on his way the moment her eyes had opened. Actually no he wasn’t. If there was one thing he’d learned last night it was that she cared about him a lot more than she wanted to admit.

It started with her bringing him that uterus-shaped heating pad and ended with her shedding tears as she looked at the scars left by his brush with death. For the first time in over a year, Leo had hope. She’d told him that she’d wanted to come back just to see him. She’d told him that she’d been terrified to lose him forever. That meant that a part of her still wanted him whether she was willing to admit it or not. He might not be able to do the things he used to do, but he hadn’t lost her. If he had anything to do with it, he never would.

Dumpy whined, drawing Leo’s attention away from his thoughts and watching Sofi sleep. Right. He probably had to go to the bathroom. Leo slid off the bed and lifted the puppy into his arms. He was a solid boy, even if he wasn’t full-grown. He carried him to his bedroom and placed him on the floor. “Behave yourself while I get dressed,” he told Dumpy. “I’ll be pissed as hell if you mess up another pair of my shoes.” Leo grabbed his clothes and rushed to put them on. He did not like the way Dumpy was sniffing the floor in agitation. He grabbed his keys from the nightstand, his phone, and wallet. Then he remembered that the dog didn’t have a leash. He needed a rope or something. He thought about the fluffy purple robe he’d seen hanging on the back of her bedroom door. He tiptoed back into Sofi’s room and slipped the belt from the loops. This would just have to be Dumpy’s makeshift leash. Sofi would forgive him. He picked the dog back up, hoping that it would prevent him from peeing before they made it outside, and rushed out the door.

As soon as they were out the back door, Leo raced to the first spot of green he found, which happened to be a bush at the mouth of the alleyway. The second he put Dumpy down, he took care of business. “That was a close one,” he said to the dog relieving himself for an inordinate amount of time. “But you did good, buddy.” Dumpy wagged his tail. “Come on, let’s go find us all some breakfast.” He slipped the robe belt loop over the dog’s head, just in case he decided to book it.

He felt like an idiot walking a dog with a robe belt leash on and the people who saw him looked at him like such, but Leo did his best to ignore the stares and pointing. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw missed calls from multiple family members. Shit. He’d forgotten that he was supposed to be up early to help set up at the park. He was in big trouble. He didn’t want to listen to his parents ream him out so early in the morning. Leo called Saint first instead.

“Where the fuck are you? You were supposed to be here two hours ago, you weren’t answering your phone, and we couldn’t find you. All we found was garbage you were supposed to throw out strewn all over the alley you were already almost killed in,” his brother growled upon answering.

Uh-oh. If Saint was dropping an f-bomb and performing monologues, things were bad.

Leo immediately began apologizing. “I’m sorry. I got busy and then I forgot.”

Silence.

Okay, so he was still pissed.

Leo continued to explain himself. “Sofi and I found this dog by the dumpster. We couldn’t just leave it there, so we brought it to the apartment. But you know how Sofi is, so I had to take care of it. I’m actually walking it right now looking like a jackass because I had to MacGyver a leash out of the belt from her robe. I’ll send you a picture, if you don’t believe me.”

A long-suffering sigh.

---